Knitting-machine.



' F. B. WILDMAN & G. L. BALLARD.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9, 1912.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

CLEARING Couas CAM v lo I l'nverzzo x amdw M (Cg/Md F. B. WILDMAN & G.L. BALLARD.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9. 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Patented Feb. 231915.

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' an srariasrarear re FRANK B. WILDTMAN AND GEORGE L. BALLARD, OFNORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG-NORS T WILDMAN MFG. 00., A CORPORATIONOF PENNSYLVANIA.

KNITTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 31915.

Application filed November 9, 1912. Serial N 0. 730,510.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK B. l/VILD- MAN and GEORGE L. BALLARD, acitizen of the United States and a subject of the Kingof Great Britain,respectively, residing at Norristown, Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Knitting-Machine Latch- )peners,of which the following is a specification.

The invention has for its object to provide a brush for opening thelatches of the needles, which will'be in position to receive the needlesat such times that the latches must be opened, but which will be out ofcontact with the needles when not needed to perform its function, thusavoiding excessive wear on the brush and its frequent renewal.

in the accompanying drawings is shown in Figure l a brush with automaticcontrolling mechanism applied to a knitting head of one type designed toproduce a welt and having a clearing course cam; Fig. 2 is an elevationof the head; Fig. 3 is a plan view of. the invention applied to anotherform of knitting head, and Fig. 4 is a side view of the head of Fig. 3with some of the parts omitted.

Referring to Fig. 1, the brush and automatic controlling or positioningmechanism there shown is applied to the type of machine in which thecams rotate and are controlled as to their positions by contact arms,which strike a roller on the fixed base, which is raised and loweredinto the plane of the arms by pattern mechanism. in the drawings, 1indicates the cylinder cam ring and 2 the dial plate rotating in thearrow direction, 2 is the thread guide; 3 the advancing cam of the dial,and 4c the dial post of the clearing cam of the cylinder needles. Thispost has a pin 5 under which moves the incline 6 of a cam disk 7 whenSaid disk is turned by the arm 8 striking the controller roller 9 on thefixed frame. This arm 8 is on a shaft 10 geared at 10, Fig. 2, as iswell known in the art, to a shaft'll which has the cam disk 7 fixedthereto. A returning arm 12 fixed to the shaft 11, when it strikes thecontroller roller turns the cam disk to remove'its incline 6 frombeneath the pin to allow the cam to move down again under the action ofa spring (not shown), which presses upon the post. When the cam is up,the needles are advanced far enough to get the loops back of thelatches, and in retracting these needles knit off. These empty needles,when advanced to again take the thread, require that their latches beopen, and to insure this open position of the latches the brush 23 isprovided carried upon an arm 13 pivoted at 14- to the dial cap, andhaving a pinl5 to be struck by a pin or projection 16 carried by theshaft 11 of the disk cam 7. When the cam disk is turned to raise theclearing course cam of the cylinder, the pin 16 strikes pin and movesthe arm or plate 13 to swing the brush 23 over the cylinder needles sothat the empty needles, in passing between the bristles, have theirlatches opened prior to taking the thread from the guide 2. The clearingcourse is formed just before the welt is begun. As soon as the dialadvancing cam 3 is moved inwardly to retract the dial needles for theformation of the welt, the brush is moved from over the cylinderneedles. The dial advancing or wing cam is operated by a link 18 havinga pin 19 passing through a slot 17 in the dial cap, said link beingconnected adjustahly to a segmental arm or plate 20 on the shaft 21.This shaft is turned one way by an arm 22 thereon striking thecontroller roller 9. This sets the advancing cam 3 inwardly, and at thesame time a pin 24 on the extension 25 of the shaft 21 contacts with apin 26 on the brush carrying arm 13, so that this is turned to theposition shown in Fig. 1, and the brush is removed from the needles,where it remains until' another clearing course is to be made, when theoperations above outlined will'be repeated.

The-arm 13 is under restraint of a spring 13'. The advancing cam 3 isreturned outwardly and the pin 24 removed from the pin 26 by the arm 27striking the controller roller.

In Figs. 3 and 4 we illustrate another application of our invention, 2'.e., to a different form of knitting head. Here the brush 23' is carriedby a rock shaft 28-journaled in a bracket 29 fixed on one of the posts30 of the head. The rock shaft is turned by a spring 31 to'carry thebrush into position over the needle circle, the spring being attached atone end to the bracket and at the other end to a collar 31 on the shaft.The shaft also has an arm or pin 32 depending therefrom to be engaged byan arm or pin 33 on the shaft 34. ihis shaft carries the arm 35 havingstuds 36 for pressing the head 37 downwardly by working on inclines 39on said head. This head is attached to the post 40 of the cylinderstitch cam. When the slack is to be knit to make the welt, the arm 35 ismoved in removing the pin 33 from the pin of the brush shaft, which isthen turned by the spring to present the brush over the needle circle.As soon as knitting of the welt is completed, the slack is thrown ofiand the brush is removed. The operation just stated of throwing thebrush in results from the arm 41 striking the pattern controlled rollerand for throwing the brush out the arm 4-2 strikes the said roll. Thelast mentioned arm 42"is fixed to the shaft which carries the arm 35,whereas the arm 41 is on a separate shaft geared to the first shaft, asis well known in the Wildman type of knitting machine.

From the above it will be seen that the brush is thrown into position toact on the needles only when necessary to perform its work. At. allother times the brush is free from the wear of the needles runningthrough it.

We claim as our invention 1. In combination in a circular knittingmachine, latch needles, a rotary cam box, adjusting mechanism for one ofthe cams comprising arotary shaft mounted vertically in the cam box, andhaving means for adjusting the cam vertically, a brush to open thelatches of the needles'and movable in relation to the needles, anoperating connection between said brush and the vertical shaft, andmeans for operating the shaft as the cam box revolves, substantially asdescribed. 4

*2. In combination in a circular knitting machine, latch needles, arotary cam box,

menses cam adjusting mechanism carried thereby comprising a verticalrock shaft and means attached thereto for moving one of the camsvertically, a brush to open the latches of the needles and movable inrelation to the needles. a holder for said brush having back andforthmovement, and a laterally extending arm on the rock shaft for operatingthe said holderfsubstantially as described.

3. In combination in a circular knitting machine, needles, a rotary cambox, adjusting mechanism for-one of the cams com prising a rotary shaftmounted vertically in the cam box and having means for adjusting the camvertically, a horizontal shaft mounted to revolve with the cam box, abrush depending therefrom and a connection between the horizontal shaftand the vertical shaft for adjusting the brush in relation to theneedles when the needle cam is adjusted, substantially as described.

at. In combination in a circular knitting machine, needles, a rotary camboX, cam adjusting mechanism carried thereby, comprising a vertical rockshaft and means attached thereto for moving one of the cams vertically,a brush movable to and from the plane of operation of the needles, a

horizontal shaft carrying the said brush, a pin dependingfromsaid'horizontal shaft, a laterally extending pin on the vertical shaftto engage the depending pin for turning the horizontal shaft in onedirection,

